Over €1.2m spent on pesticide to kill weeds along rail network 

Iarnród Éireann says pesticide application is undertaken in a controlled and appropriate manner at all times.

Over €1.2m has been spent in eight years by the Department of Transport on almost 72,000 litres of pesticide to tackle weeds along the country’s rail networks.

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has raised environmental concerns questioning why weeds, bushes, and grass were not trimmed instead of the use of weedkiller.

Iarnród Éireann has said in order to maintain rail track infrastructure and to ensure passenger and freight trains can operate safely, the rail track beds are sprayed nationwide with approved pesticides to control vegetation growth.

According to data released by the Department of Transport to Mr Tóibín, the government has spent €1.2m on 71,671 litres of weedkiller since 2015.

The breakdown shows that over the course of the last eight years anywhere between €76,704 and €260,686 has been spent on the weedkiller in any one year.

Figures for the money spent so far this year were not provided for.

Peadar Tóibín claims weedkiller may have been 'spread indiscriminately' on bushes, shrubs, and grass. 

Mr Tóibín claims that weedkiller may have been “spread indiscriminately” on bushes, shrubs and grass.

He said: “Some years the spending on the practice and the quantity of weedkiller used does not match up. In 2016, for example, 16,000 litres of weedkiller were used at a cost of €132,000. 

“However, the following year only 5,000 litres were used but the cost came to €172,000 — it must have been pretty strong stuff,” he said.

“We in Aontú believe that Eamon Ryan has questions to answer on this, both in terms of the massive costs, but also in terms of the cost to the environment.

“Here is a minister for transport leading a party which is trying to stop people cutting turf, trying to convert the Dáil car park into a garden, imposing carbon tax on farmers, and yet on the other hand we have nearly 20,000 gallons of weedkiller spread on our bushes, shrubs and trees. 

Why couldn’t they have been trimmed instead of sprayed?” 

Iarnród Éireann replied to Mr Tóibín on behalf of the Department of Transport and said an initial blanket pesticide application is applied early in the vegetation growth cycle.

A follow-up survey is undertaken during the summer months where specific targeted pesticide application is applied where necessary, it added.

“Pesticide application is undertaken in a controlled and appropriate manner at all times and utilises modern technologies such that application is targeted and confined to areas that are necessary for the ongoing safe provision of railway infrastructure,” Jim Meade, CEO of Iarnród Éireann, said.

He added that Iarnród Éireann only procures pesticides that are authorised for use by the Department of Agriculture and applied at agreed rates in accordance with safety controls.